Air conditioner cover assembly



A ril 8, 1969 J. 5. JESSEE AIR CONDITIONER COVER ASSEMBLY Original Filed Oct. 10; 1966 INVENTOR. $066k; 61 J'Zasu'ee BY M,WMa

it Stat 3,436,889 AIR CONDITIONER COVER ASSEMBLY Joseph S. lessee, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Continuation of application Ser. No. 585,396, Oct. 10,

1966. This application Apr. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 723,628 Int. Cl. E04c 2/38; E06b 3/30, 3/26 US. Cl. 52-627 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application constitutes a continuation of noW abandoned application Ser. No. 585,396, filed Oct. 10, 1966.

This invention relates to room air conditioner cover assemblies, and more particularly to a room ai conditioner cover assembly having a removable decorative panel therein.

Room air conditioning units are generally mounted in a window or through an opening in a wall of a confined space in a house or building. These units usually present a front face to the room or confined space to be ai conditioned and it is desirable to have the front face of a unit blend harmoniously with the decorative appointments in the room, such as draperies and the wall color or paper. Accordingly, the front face often includes a cover assembly having a decorative panel mounted in a frame, such as shown in copending US. patent application Ser. No. 495,614, filed Oct. 13, 1965, entitled Room Air Conditioner, now Patent No. 3,354,809. The panel is usually mounted in the frame so that the former may be removed and either another decorative panel be substituted for it, or different decorative material, such as wall paper or paint, be applied to it, thus enabling the appearance of the air conditioner modified so as to blend in a desired and pleasing manner with other room decorations.

Some of the cover assemblies having decorative panels are adapted to swing open or be moved from a closed position wherein the cover assembly is substantially flush with the air conditioner housing to an open position wherein at least a portion of the cover assembly is spaced from the housing to uncover inlet and outlet openings in the housing. While it is desirable to have decorative panels, such as described removably mounted in a frame, it is important that the panel be securely held in position when it is in the frame so that the panel does not fall out of the frame when the latter is moved to an open position. Moreover, it is essential that the panel be held securely i the frame against the vibrations which may be transmitted to the frame from the air conditioner blower fan, motor or compressor. Furthermore, since a panel which is loosely mounted on the frame gives a sloppy and unattractive appearance to the unit it is important for appearance reasons to connect the panel securely to the frame.

One of the methods heretofore used to hold the panel atom 3,436,889 Patented Apr. 8, 1969 in the frame employed magnets mounted in the frame and adapted to hold the panel magnetically in the frame. While these magnets were generally effective to hold the panel in its proper position, on occasion, abrupt movements of the frame, such as sharply opening the latter, might jar loose the panel. Moreover, the use of magnets was relatively expensive and added an unwanted expense to the manufacturing cost of the air conditioning units.

Accordingly, one of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a room air conditioner cover as sembly having a removable decorative panel which is securely held in a frame, but which may be readily removed from the frame if it is desired to substitute another decorative panel or apply other decorative material to it.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cover assembly such as described in which the panel is held in position in the frame without adding any significant expense to the cover assembly, such as would occur if magnets were employed.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cover assembly of the type described in which the panel retention means may be incorporated without requiring any manual operation, thereby reducing production costs.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a cover assembly of the class described which is simple and economical in construction and effective in operation.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be made apparent as the description progresses.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one of various possible embodiments of this invention is illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a cover assembly constructed in accordance with this invention, certain parts being broken away for clarity;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are enlarged sections taken along lines 22, 33, and 44, respectively, of FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 is a section taken along line '5-5 of FIG. 4.

Corresponding reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, a room air conditioner cover assembly of this invention is generally indicated at 1. It basically comprises a frame 3 having a decorative panel 5 removably mounted therein.

Frame 3 is preferably formed in a molded one-piece configuration of a moldable plastic material such as polystyrene, for example. The frame includes horizontally extending top and bottom members 7 and 9, respectively. The top and bottom members 7 and 9 are joined at their ends by side members 11 and 13. Bearings 15 and saddles 17 extend rearwardly from the top and bottom members 7 and 9 for piv-otally connecting the members to other movable members (not shown) of the air conditioner to which the cover assembly is attached. The bearings 15 and saddles 17 on the top and bottom members 7 and 9 are adapted to receive a hinge pin (not shown) which passes through the bearings and saddles and through similar elements on the movable members to which the cover assembly 1 is connected.

A plurality of generally vertically extending support ribs 19 extend between the top and bottom members 7 and 9 with one of the ribs 19 being located approximately midway between the side members 11 and 13. Extending across the cover assembly 1 between the side members 11 and 13 are a plurality of generally horizontally extending ribs 21. The ribs 19 and 21 are integrally connected at their juncture to increase the rigidity of the cover assembly.

Each of the top and bottom members 7 and 9 and each of the side members 11 and 13 is formed with a recessed shoulder 23 which together form a panel-receiving seat or recess 25. The configuration of the frame is substantially rectangular so that the recess or seat 25 is likewise snbstantally rectangular in configuration.

The centrally located generally vertically extending rib 19 is formed with an elongated recess 27 the central portion of which receives a resilient member 29 adapted to engage the rear side of panel 5 for maintaining pressure therein.

Panel retaining projections or tabs 30 and 32 are integrally formed in the central portions of the top and bottom members 7 and 9 and extend toward one another over the adjacent portion of the respective shoulder 23. The rearwardly facing edges or sides of the projections 30 and 32 are spaced from the adjacent portion of shoulder 23 by a distance approximately equal to the thickness of the panel 5.

The decorative panel 5 may be formed of any conventional self-supporting sheet material such as plastic, cardboard, etc., but in the preferred form is formed of a steel sheet material having different vinyl coverings on opposite sides thereof. The panel is substantially rectangular and adapted to fit within the recess 25. The panel should have some flexibility or purposes to be made apparent hereinafter. The short dimensional sides of the panel are provided with laterally extending tabs or cars 31. The tabs 31 are adapted to extend through slots 33 which extend laterally and in a substantially contiguous manner from shoulder 25 into side members 11 and 13 for retaining the ends of the panel in the recess 25.

The decorative panel may be quickly and easily installed in the frame 3 in the following manner:

First, the side of the panel which is to face outwardly toward the room to be air conditioned is so positioned relative to the frame. One end of the panel 5 is then threaded between the projections 30 and 32 and the adjacent portions of the shoulders 23. The panel is then slid along the frame with the lateral edges of the panel being continuously threaded between the projections 30 and 32 and the adjacent portions of the shoulders 23 until the leading edge of the panel is located adjacent the side member toward which it is being moved. The panel is then moved a little farther toward the adjacent side member 11 or 13 to insert the tabs 31 into the respective slots 33.

At this point, the tabs 31 on the other end of the panel 5 overlie the edges of the adjacent side member. The tabs are inserted in the slots 31 by manually bowing the panel between the projections 30 and 32 and the unconnected end of the panel to place the outer ends of the tabs 31 adjacent the entrance to the slots 33. When the bowed portion of the panel is released, the tabs 31 slide into the slots 33 to secure the panel in position.

The resilient member 29 engages the rear side of the panel 5 in the central area of the latter and maintains pressure thereon to hold the panel against movement due to vibrations or other movements caused by the moving parts of the air conditioning unit.

It will be seen that the decorative panel is securely held in the frame without requiring any significant expense such as might be incurred if magnets were employed. Moreover, the panel may be readily removed by merely reversing the installation procedure outlined above. The panel can then be reversed or decorative material, such as wall paper, drapery material, or paint applied thereto. The projections, by being integrally formed with the molded one-piece frame, add only an insignificant amount of expense to the basic frame cost and completely eliminate the necessity of the use of magnets for retaining the panel in position.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the several objects and other advantages of this invention are accomplished.

It will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the exact constructions shown and described, but that various changes and modifications may be made 4 without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A cover assembly for an air conditioning unit com prising a generally rectangular frame, fastening means on said frame for connecting the latter to the unit, said frame having top and bottom generally horizontally extending members, two generally vertically extending side frame portions joining the ends of said top and bottom members having recessed shoulders therein, the generally horizontally extending members and the generally vertically extending side frame portions forming generally rectangular recessed seating means in said frame, a generally fiat flexible decorative panel located on said generally rectangular seating means, said panel having two generally vertically extending side portions, projections on said top and bottom members extending toward one another and overlying the adjacent edge portions of the outer face of said panel for holding the latter against said seating means with the two panel side portions being respectively adjacent the two frame side portions, said frame being formed in a one-piece molded plastic configuration, said projections being integrally molded in place, each of two of said side portions which are spaced apart from one another having a laterally extending recess therein substantially contiguous with the respective side portion, and the other two of said side portions having laterally extending projections thereon aligned with and extending into said recesses.

2. A cover assembly for an air conditioning unit comprising a generally rectangular frame, fastening means on said frame for connecting the latter to the unit, said frame having top and bottom generally horizontally extending members, generally vertically extending side members joining the ends of said top and bottom members having recessed shoulders therein forming a generally rectangular seat in said frame, a generally flat flexible decorative panel located on said generally rectangular recessed seat, projections on said top and bottom members extending toward one another and overlying the adjacent edge portions of the outer face of said panel for holding the latter against said seat, said frame being formed in a one-piece molded plastic configuration, said projections being integrally molded in place, each of said side members having a laterally extending slot therein substantially contiguous with the respective recessed shoulder, and said decorative panel having laterally extending tabs therein aligned with and extending into said slots.

3. A cover assembly for an air conditioning unit comprising a generally rectangular frame, fastening means on said frame for connecting the latter to the unit, said frame having top and bottom generally horizontally extending members, a generally vertically extending side member joining the ends of said top and bottom members having recessed shoulders thereon forming a generally rectangular recessed seat in said frame, a decorative panel located on said rectangular recessed seat, projections on said top and bottom members extending toward one another and overlying the adjacent edge portions of said panel for holding the latter on said seat, said frame further including at least one generally vertically extending support rib extending from said top member to said bottom member, said support rib having resilient material thereon engaging the rear surface of said panel for maintaining pressure against the panel.

4. A cover assembly for an air conditioning unit comprising a generally rectangular frame, fastening means on said frame for connecting the latter to the unit, said frame having top and bottom generally horizontally extending members, a generally vertically extending side member joining the ends of said top and bottom members having recessed shoulders thereon forming a generally rectangular recessed seat in said frame, a decorative panel located on said rectangular recessed seat, projections on said top and bottom members extending toward one another and overlying the adjacent edge portions of said panel for holding the latter on said seat, said frame further including a plurality of generally vertically extending support ribs extending from said top member to said bottom member, one of said support ribs being located approximately midway between said side members, and a plurality of generally horizontally extending support ribs extending between said side members and interconnecting said generally vertically extending support ribs, said one support rib having a recess in the outer face thereof, resilient material located in said recess and engaging the rear surface of said panel for maintaining pressure thereon.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Smith 52476 West 52476 King 52475 Roos 52202 Cable 52475 Zoellner 52202 Curl 52475 Mullins 52202 HENRY C. SUTHE-RLAND, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

